Cornet



(No Model.)

J. HEALD.

CORNET.

No. 543,015. Patented July 23, 1895.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEQ JOHN HEALD, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

CORNET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 543,015, dated July 23,1895.

Application filed February 13,1895. Serial No. 538,182. (No model.

To (LZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN HEALD, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State ofMassachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Cot-nets, ofwhich the following is a specification.

Cornets and analogous musical instru ments as heretofore made have beendependent upon the usual U-shaped slide located in the air-conduitintermediate of the mouthpiece and the bell of the instrument forchanging the pitch from a higher to a lower one, and vice versa, thesaid bell being permanently attached to the cornet. Conseqently, asaforesaid, no part of the instrument except said slide could be operatedfor said change of pitch. It has been found in practice that the propervolume and quality of tone are unattainable through the use of atuning-slide alone when the pitch is altered by the slide.

The object of this invention is to provide for use with a windinstrument of the hereindescribed class, which has the usual cylinders,valves, air-conduits, and valve-operating devices, one or more removablesubstitute bells of suitable varying sizes, which severally contributein connection with the aforesaid slide to the production of correctvarying musical pitches, as above set forth. The said substitute bellconstitutes the terminal of the windpassages through the instrument, asalso does the bell which it takes the place of.

The improved cornet is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwl1ich- Figure l is a side View of the cornet with some of the novelfeatures shown in section and by dotted lines. Fig. 2 is a plan viewshowing the middle or piston and valve portion of the cornet, theinterchangeable bell which here is of a larger size as to length anddiameter from the one shown in Fig.1 and the confining and steadyingdevices therefor.

The cornet A has, as usual, the several cylinders 1 2 3, bowed orU-shaped sides, tubes (1, the piston-valves in the cylinders, and a pipe(here concealed by other parts) to which the mouthpiece is connectedleading by the usual looped course to the first one of the cylinders 1.Leading from the last of the cylinders 3 is a tubular stem 1), and withthis is connected by a slip or telescopic joint the return-bent portion0c of the bell or horn B or B Onthepiston-casesoneormorethereofareformed or secured ear-lugs d cl, and the part of the bell which isopposite thereto has corresponding ear-lugs ff, the matching earlugsbeing detachablyconlined by the thumbscrews g g.

By removing the setscrews and forcing the bell B substantiallyhorizontally in the proper direction it may be freed from the body ormain portion of the instrument and another bell of different length ordiameter, or different both in length and diameter, may be slipped intoor onto the tubular stem and restrained by having the set-screws passedthrough its ear-lugs, which, as did those of the other bell, match withthe ear-lugs on the body of the instrument.

The operation of my improvements is as follows: It is well known topersons skilled in the use of cornets and analogous instrumentsheretofore made that the operation of said tuuing-slide for, forinstance, lowering the pitch of a B-flat cornet a tone or a semitone bythe use of the tuning-slide only does not produce the desired volume oftone, for it lacks the full, sonorous quality which such lower toneshould possess because the size or capacity of the bell B, whileadequate for the higher tone, is not adapted to the production of thelower one. Consequently when the player using my improvements reducesthe pitch of the instrument through the slide a, as aforesaid, he alsoremoves the smaller bell B and substitutes the bell B therefor, which islonger and of greater diameter at and back of its mouth, and therebyalower tone or pitch is produced having the full, sonorous qualitybelonging to such a pitch. Likewise, in then tuning the instrument to ahigher pitch the smaller bell is substituted for the larger one.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1. A cornet or analogous musical instrument having its main portioncomprising the passages and one or more tuning slides as usual, combinedwith a detachable openmouthed terminal bell, whereby the same may besubstituted by similarly applied bells of different dimensions,substantially as described.

2. A cornet or analogous musical instrument having its main portioncomprising the passages and one or more tuning slides as, usual, andhaving that portion thereof which comprises the passage which carriesthe tone into the bell constructed wils a socket adapted to receive thesmaller enviof interchange- IO able, substitute bells, havingopen-mouthed terminals, substantially as described JOHN HEALD.

Witnesses:

WM. S.1BELLOWS, H. A. CHAPIN.

